Jia, a blockchain-based fintech startup launched by former Tala founders, is doubling down on its operations in the Philippines and Kenya after raising $4.3 million in Seed funding.
The startup operates a platform that turns global liquidity into working capital for small businesses in emerging markets. The platform allows investors to deploy capital to real-world businesses and earn competitive returns.
Jia started in Kenya and the Philippines in 2021 by ex-Tala executives Zach Marks, Cheng Cheng, Ivan Orone, Yuting Wang.
The funding round was led by investment firm TCG Crypto and participated by BlockTower, Hashed Emergent, Saison Capital, Draft Ventures, and other strategic fintech and blockchain funds.
A host of angel investors also backed the funding round, including Packy McCormick (Not Boring), Anand Iyer (Canonical Crypto), and Jared Hecht and Rory Eakin (founders of fintech lending companies Fundera and CircleUp).
Jia targets micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in emerging markets, which it said are often excluded from access to affordable financing from banks and forced to rely on informal local lenders for capital to operate their businesses.
Entrepreneurs often face triple-digit APRs, forcing them to give up the lion’s share of their profits in order to expand their businesses.
In the Philippines, there were a total of 1.08 million business enterprises operating in the country, according to the 2021 List of Establishments released by the Philippine Statistics Authority. Of these, 99.58% or about 1.07 million are MSMEs.
Jia’s users in the Philippines include Armando Porlares, a bakery owner in Manila. Porlares employs fifty people and needed financing to continue growing his business but had trouble accessing affordable options as an MSME in an emerging market.
“I tried to get a loan from a local lender, but when I saw the price, I realized it would take my whole profit,” said Porlares. “When I found Jia, I found a lender who wanted to work hard alongside me, and invest back into my business and our community, too.”
Zach Marks, CEO and co-founder of Jia said there are millions of entrepreneurs across emerging markets who are locked out of the legacy financial system.
“We created Jia to give those business owners fair access to the right tools to continue creating new jobs, growing their operations, and expanding opportunities in their communities,” said Marks, who began his career working in economic development at McKinsey & Co. after researching street vendors in India on a Fulbright Fellowship.